Referring to FIG. 1, a server 100 is in data communication with the Internet 102 and is configured to post Web pages that a computer user can access and view on a computer 104 at a remote location. The entire collection of web documents that are linked together and accessible through the Internet is called the World-Wide Web.
A Web page is typically created from an HTML document 106, which is a set of code in a text file format. The HTML document 106 controls the presentation and display of information on the computer 104. Examples of information that can be displayed on a Web page through the use of the HTML document 106 includes textual information, images, video, audio, and other executable programs.
The HTML document 106 includes properties that are used to control various attributes of the document including the format of its output. Properties define the characteristics or attributes of an object. Some uses for properties include setting the font for characters, the color for characters and background areas, and the position of objects within a viewing area. Additionally, many HTML documents 106 are programmed so that certain events will change the value for the properties. For example, the HTML document 106 might specify that the color and point size of text should change as the size of a window display area changes.
While the Internet 102 and the technology related to HTML documents 106 has revolutionized the way in which people access information, there are still shortcomings that limit who can develop these documents and post Web pages. For example, it is not possible to describe the relationships between objects, properties, and variables in terms of functions rather than specify explicit sequences of steps to follow. As a result, writing code that changes the value of properties based on certain events can be very complex and require knowledge of procedural programming and other complex programming techniques. Programming knowledge is thus a barrier to building a rich, dynamic, and self-adjusting HTML document for many people. Furthermore, the code that allows the value for properties to be modified can be long and tedious to write. Such complex code also places overhead on the processing power of the computer and can slow down the computer's ability to update and display a Web page.